Tuesday, 6 May 2014

So James Packer and David Gyngell

had a bit of a fisticuffs did they? The "news" has made the front page of the state and national newspapers this morning. There were four more pages devoted to the matter in the state newspaper. The history of their "friendship", their childhoods, their business interests etc. etc. were all unearthed, analysed and then put out for public viewing. Why?Let me be quite clear. I do not like violence. There are always, and I mean always, better ways to sort out personal differences rather than resorting to violence. But was the fisticuffs any of our business? Should we be interested? Should someone else have made more money than I can think about by selling the pictures? Of course not. It was none of our business. We did not, despite what some senior journalists like Malcolm Farr have said, have any right to know. It was not "in the public interest". It was gossip. Yes Mr Farr is right when he says it tells us something about the character of the two men but there is a difference between that and making front page news of it. The police were not involved - although perhaps they should have been.Was it a "slow news" day perhaps? No. There were plenty of issues which should have been reported. Someone mentioned to me yesterday that, while there has been plenty of attention given to the appalling tragedy of the ferry which sank off Korea, far less attention has been given to the schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram. I can only agree. I have heard people say how shocked they were - rightly - by the loss of life in the first incident. I have not heard anyone, apart from that one individual and the brief reports on the news services, express concern for the schoolgirls - girls who must, if they are still alive, be absolutely terrified and who will be forever traumatised by their experience. Why?Mr Packer and Mr Gyngell having a fight was not news. Reporting it in the way it has been reported will have done nothing but harm. The same space could have been devoted to trying to get people to understand vile organisations like Boko Haram - so that we can better understand and support those who are subjected to their violence. It seems that the rich and powerful however are more newsworthy than the girls. Personally, I prefer the girls.

3 comments:

Absolutely, Cat. Although I have to say I don't actually recognise the names of the two men who had a schoolboy fight. However. . .

Putting it at it's crudest, the Korean schoolchildren on that ferry are either alive or they are dead, and if the latter, they are beyond fear and pain. No comfort to their bereaved families, but there is no comfort available for the families of the Nigerian girls - they will probably be alive, most of them, because they have a monetary value to the evil men who took them. There was a clip on our news bulletin last night showing the leader of Boko Haram posturing and boasting about what he had done. His body language was terrifying. Even if rescued, those girls will be damaged for the rest of their lives.

James Packer is owner of multiple casinos etc (his father had a media empire) and David Gyngell owns, among other things, one of the main television stations - both far richer than I can comprehend (and probably not as happy!)